Outpost Supplies - Help Needed

[TheSAguy]

Hi,

So I have a lot of rail outposts where I'm mining resources and would like to setup my train to take supplies there to repair stuff.

This is my setup.
My trains all have 3 wagons, two for ore and one I'd like to use to ship supplies.
All outposts have a robo-port.

Does anyone have some examples on how they've done this and or advise doing this?

I challenge I was having last night was to setup my Logic/Circuit network to only load stuff in the 3rd cargo wagon when there was less than a certain amount of it.
Let's say, If less than 50 Wall in wagon, add more.

Help appreciated.
Thanks.

[Shokubai]

A low tech solution is to filter your cargo wagons. I do this with my oil bases. I will filter some number of slots for Coal, and split the rest between plastic and sulfur. Then i use smart inserters for unloading so everything goes (or doesn't go) where I need it.


In your case maybe you want 2 Slots of wall, 1 slot of turrets, 1 slot of Each type of pole. To limit the other slots just middle mouse click them and make them something unnecessary like Wood or Satellites to block the spaces.

If the base you delivering these items to is on a unique logistic networks(roboports don't connect to your main base) you will use smart inserters to unload from the train into passive providers either indirectly or directly with a condition like Laser Turrets < 50. Now they won't unload from the train unless some get used. This way you could have 1 supply train just hitting all of your bases in sequence.

[AutoMcD]

A low tech solution is to filter your cargo wagons. I do this with my oil bases. I will filter some number of slots for Coal, and split the rest between plastic and sulfur. Then i use smart inserters for unloading so everything goes (or doesn't go) where I need it.


In your case maybe you want 2 Slots of wall, 1 slot of turrets, 1 slot of Each type of pole. To limit the other slots just middle mouse click them and make them something unnecessary like Wood or Satellites to block the spaces.

If the base you delivering these items to is on a unique logistic networks(roboports don't connect to your main base) you will use smart inserters to unload from the train into passive providers either indirectly or directly with a condition like Laser Turrets < 50. Now they won't unload from the train unless some get used. This way you could have 1 supply train just hitting all of your bases in sequence.

+1, setting filter is simple and effective. car will need smart inserters to be unloaded properly but it distributes repair packs quite well. I use coal and other misc items for the rest of it.. don't want to muck up the iron/copper ore massive efficiency going on with the other cars.

[TheSAguy]

A low tech solution is to filter your cargo wagons. I do this with my oil bases. I will filter some number of slots for Coal, and split the rest between plastic and sulfur. Then i use smart inserters for unloading so everything goes (or doesn't go) where I need it.


In your case maybe you want 2 Slots of wall, 1 slot of turrets, 1 slot of Each type of pole. To limit the other slots just middle mouse click them and make them something unnecessary like Wood or Satellites to block the spaces.

If the base you delivering these items to is on a unique logistic networks(roboports don't connect to your main base) you will use smart inserters to unload from the train into passive providers either indirectly or directly with a condition like Laser Turrets < 50. Now they won't unload from the train unless some get used. This way you could have 1 supply train just hitting all of your bases in sequence.

+1, setting filter is simple and effective. car will need smart inserters to be unloaded properly but it distributes repair packs quite well. I use coal and other misc items for the rest of it.. don't want to muck up the iron/copper ore massive efficiency going on with the other cars.

Unloading is not a problem, but I'm still not exactly sure how to load everything.

Let's say the wagon needs to carry Wall, Ammo, Turrets, Inserts and Poles. Unload check to see if logistics container has less than, lets say 50, if Yes, unload that item.

But when it comes to load. You can't connect to the Train Wagon, so how do I re-stock the items removed?
The only way I can think of it would be to never unload more than a single stack of an item. Let's say Inserters have a stack limit of 50, then unload up to 49. Then when I re-stock I just fill up until stack capacity of 50. No logic involved at load, just limits to stack size.

[starholme]

A low tech solution is to filter your cargo wagons. I do this with my oil bases. I will filter some number of slots for Coal, and split the rest between plastic and sulfur. Then i use smart inserters for unloading so everything goes (or doesn't go) where I need it.


In your case maybe you want 2 Slots of wall, 1 slot of turrets, 1 slot of Each type of pole. To limit the other slots just middle mouse click them and make them something unnecessary like Wood or Satellites to block the spaces.

If the base you delivering these items to is on a unique logistic networks(roboports don't connect to your main base) you will use smart inserters to unload from the train into passive providers either indirectly or directly with a condition like Laser Turrets < 50. Now they won't unload from the train unless some get used. This way you could have 1 supply train just hitting all of your bases in sequence.

+1, setting filter is simple and effective. car will need smart inserters to be unloaded properly but it distributes repair packs quite well. I use coal and other misc items for the rest of it.. don't want to muck up the iron/copper ore massive efficiency going on with the other cars.

Unloading is not a problem, but I'm still not exactly sure how to load everything.

Let's say the wagon needs to carry Wall, Ammo, Turrets, Inserts and Poles. Unload check to see if logistics container has less than, lets say 50, if Yes, unload that item.

But when it comes to load. You can't connect to the Train Wagon, so how do I re-stock the items removed?
The only way I can think of it would be to never unload more than a single stack of an item. Let's say Inserters have a stack limit of 50, then unload up to 49. Then when I re-stock I just fill up until stack capacity of 50. No logic involved at load, just limits to stack size.

If you filter the slots, you don't have to worry about the last one being used up. Use the middle mouse to set filters. I have a requester chest set to a single stack of the item, any inserter type into the wagon. Just fills up each slot, with all slot filtered. I generally use raw wood as my blanks, also because I like to have a way to pass that back for burning. One filtered inserter pulls out the wood at my main base, gets sent straight to boilers.

[Shokubai]

middle click an empty car slot and it all becomes clear.

[TheSAguy]

I've played Factorio a long time and never knew this!!
Thanks guys.

How do you clear a selection you made?

[Shokubai]

Ctrl Middle Mouse.

This works on your character toolbar too.....

[orzelek]

Additionally if you want to make more slots you can place one item of desired type in them and middle click it then.
Or there is a handy mod named Fast Filter Fill that can do that.

[imajor]

I also used filters. It works well, but to be honest I found it annoying to set up for each new wagon I send to the train network (copy-paste with shift right-left helps, but still far from perfect). I hope the circuit network improvements in 0.13 will offer a solution to this so that I won't need to set up the filter for each wagon.

On the unloading side I simply used a small circuit network, so the smart inserted was only unloading repair packs if there was like less than 50 at the outpost.

[creekz]

Im planning on making a dedicated train for supplies only, so instead of wasting several slots on my regular trains I just have the one train that refills every outpost and comes back to base to fill itself up.

A single train could hold 1,000 walls, 1,000 turrets, 1,000 power poles etc, whatever you think you will need. Then at every outpost you have a circuit network that only fills up their chest to 50 of each item.
This would save me 3-4 slots worth of ores on all my other trains.

[Shokubai]

Im planning on making a dedicated train for supplies only, so instead of wasting several slots on my regular trains I just have the one train that refills every outpost and comes back to base to fill itself up.

A single train could hold 1,000 walls, 1,000 turrets, 1,000 power poles etc, whatever you think you will need. Then at every outpost you have a circuit network that only fills up their chest to 50 of each item.
This would save me 3-4 slots worth of ores on all my other trains.

Or just make your ore train 1 car longer. Depending on where your pickups are there are 100 ways to skin this cat.

[ribsngibs]

I also used filters. It works well, but to be honest I found it annoying to set up for each new wagon I send to the train network (copy-paste with shift right-left helps, but still far from perfect). I hope the circuit network improvements in 0.13 will offer a solution to this so that I won't need to set up the filter for each wagon.

On the unloading side I simply used a small circuit network, so the smart inserted was only unloading repair packs if there was like less than 50 at the outpost.

Right next to my supply train loading station, I have a short section of unconnected track where I've placed a supply train whose only job is to be a copy-paste template. That way I just make a new train and copy paste from the template train that's sitting there instead of having to wait for or track down an existing supply train.

I do this with oil trains as well (my wagons are filtered for 1/2 oil and 1/2 empty barrels) - have a template train wagon sitting on some unconnected track.

[ribsngibs]

Im planning on making a dedicated train for supplies only, so instead of wasting several slots on my regular trains I just have the one train that refills every outpost and comes back to base to fill itself up.

A single train could hold 1,000 walls, 1,000 turrets, 1,000 power poles etc, whatever you think you will need. Then at every outpost you have a circuit network that only fills up their chest to 50 of each item.
This would save me 3-4 slots worth of ores on all my other trains.

This is what I currently do - I have a small supply train which just does a loop of all my outposts. The nice thing about this setup, imo, is that you really don't need that many supplies circulating so it's a waste to allocate slots on all your trains for that stuff - a single or double stack of turrets and walls in a single supply train making a full circuit loop of 20 or even 50 outposts is basically sufficient. If you find you need more, you just duplicate the train. The other nice thing is that if you have dedicated trains you can put more junk on it (so mine typically have everything needed to repair any part of any outpost, so it's got extra power poles and inserters and belts and drills and pumpjacks and beacons and pipes and roboports in addition to the obvious stuff - turrets, walls, repair packs.

A related trick I've been using is that on my outpost-building train (the one with FARL), the first two wagons are identical to the supply-train wagons. When I build a new outpost, I blueprint the supply-unload station down, and park the FARL in there, and then all the ingredients for the base get unloaded right off the bat, so it's easy to blueprint down the rest of the outpost, and the outpost starts out pretty well stocked.

A mini-related trick that tacks on to that is: not every outpost needs mining drills or pumpjacks or pipes or beacons - for that stuff, my unload station blueprint comes with the inserters rotated sideways so they don't do anything. If I'm building an oil outpost, I'll just rotate the pipe inserters and the pumpjack inserters so they are functional, and then it will unload the appropriate items from the FARL as well as be automatically restocked by the supply train later.

[imajor]

Right next to my supply train loading station, I have a short section of unconnected track where I've placed a supply train whose only job is to be a copy-paste template. That way I just make a new train and copy paste from the template train that's sitting there instead of having to wait for or track down an existing supply train.

That is exactly what I'm planning to do on my next pt (if 0.13 won't make it easier)

Im planning on making a dedicated train for supplies only, so instead of wasting several slots on my regular trains I just have the one train that refills every outpost and comes back to base to fill itself up.

A single train could hold 1,000 walls, 1,000 turrets, 1,000 power poles etc, whatever you think you will need. Then at every outpost you have a circuit network that only fills up their chest to 50 of each item.
This would save me 3-4 slots worth of ores on all my other trains.

That is a good idea, but then each time you build a new outpost, you need to add a new station to your service train, is that correct? Not a big deal, but somewhat more trouble than I'm hoping for.

[TheSAguy]

Looks like v 0.13 will work great for output resupply

[siggboy]

If you use filters a lot (for wagons), then the FastFilterFill mod really is a huge help (orzelek mentioned it already).

You can also shift-right-click a wagon and then shift-left-click another wagon to copy the filter settings from one to the other.

[Shokubai]

Apparently today's FFF is relevant https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-140